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<td valign="top">This guideline describes how to maintain a sustainable pace of work that does not burn out team members.</td>
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<a href="./../../../core.mgmt.slot.base/guidances/guidelines/project_planning_guidance_slot_DDA75689.html" guid="_sLQ6AN8-Edyhmsbt0Xyl8A">[Project Planning Guidance]</a>
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<div class="sectionHeading">Main Description</div>
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<td class="sectionTableSingleCell"><p> <i>Sustainable pace </i>is the rate of work that a team can consistently maintain 
  without burning out team members. This concept was popularized by the Extreme 
  Programming (XP) methodology with its 40-hour work week practice, which later 
  evolved into the more generic "sustainable pace."&nbsp;The basic idea is that, 
  although a team can have brief spurts of overtime (perhaps for a week or two&nbsp;at 
  a time during critical periods during a project lifecycle), it cannot maintain 
  that pace indefinitely.&nbsp;This is analogous to the concept that you cannot 
  sprint throughout a marathon. </p>
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    Strategies to help maintain a sustainable pace:
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  <li><strong>Build activities into everyday work</strong>.&nbsp;This avoids the 
    problem that the activity is scheduled into a specific period and, therefore, 
    must&nbsp;be accomplished regardless of how much effort it requires. For example, 
    instead of leaving testing to the end of a project, test all the way through 
    the project.&nbsp;Instead of modeling only at the beginning of a project, 
    model all the way through only when you need the relevant information and 
    only to the extent that you currently need.&nbsp;&nbsp; </li>
  <li><strong>Organize the project into short iterations</strong>.&nbsp;Short 
    iterations provide the opportunity for small "pebbles" (which show progress) 
    rather than huge "milestones."&nbsp;Continuous feedback reduces the&nbsp;need&nbsp;to 
    work long hours. Also,&nbsp;it helps focus on finding ways to consistently 
    achieve the regular deliveries. </li>
  <li><strong>Adopt a continuous integration strategy</strong>.&nbsp;By frequently 
    merging code, compiling it, testing it, and running appropriate code analysis 
    against it, you increase the quality of your work through finding and then 
    fixing defects quickly and easily.&nbsp;This reduces the chance of major problems 
    in your work, thereby reducing a primary motivator of unexpected overtime.&nbsp; 
  </li>
  <li><strong>Question long hours</strong>.&nbsp;Productivity does not increase 
    with hours worked.&nbsp;Tired people are far&nbsp;less productive than well-rested 
    ones. </li>
  <li><strong>Recognize sustained overtime as a failure</strong>.&nbsp;If a team 
    needs to work overtime for more than&nbsp;two weeks in a row, that is a reflection 
    of poor planning or&nbsp;inadequate resources allocation.&nbsp; </li>
  <li><strong>Recognize that you're still working hard at a sustainable pace</strong>.&nbsp;Just 
    because you are working at a sustainable pace, it&nbsp;doesn't mean that the 
    team is not working hard enough. Rather, it is&nbsp;typically an indication 
    that&nbsp;the team is&nbsp;a "well-oiled machine.&quot;</li>
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<td class="copyright"><p> This program and the accompanying materials are made available under the<br />
  <a href="http://www.eclipse.org/org/documents/epl-v10.php" target="_blank">Eclipse 
  Public License V1.0</a>, which accompanies this distribution. </p><p/><p> <a class="elementLink" href="./../../../core.default.release_copyright.base/guidances/supportingmaterials/openup_copyright_C3031062.html" guid="_UaGfECcTEduSX6N2jUafGA">OpenUP Copyright</a></p></td>
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